Tattoos are an ancient form of personal expression. They provide an image or text worn on the skin, impervious to washing, surface abrasion or time. Indeed, the tattoos are best known for their permanence. As a remedy to the inalterable permanence of the tattoo art, several technologies have recently become available that allow tattoos to be removed, but these processes are painful, expensive, and relatively slow, often requiring multiple treatments to achieve only moderate success. For this reason many people who are interested in personal expression and body art are dissuaded from getting a tattoo because of the inalterable nature of tattoos. Also, tattoos are currently provided by specialized tattoo parlors, adding to their cost and inaccessibility. There are temporary tattoos, but they are short-lived and relatively limited in the variety of possible images as they are manufactured in a finite set of popular likenesses.
It is therefore desirable to have the benefit of body art (tattoo) that would last indefinitely, yet could also be changed as desired. Ideally one could modify, completely change, or "remove" a tattoo quickly, painlessly and at low cost. Furthermore, it is desirable to allow the wearer to change the design to be a one-of-a-kind, self-made image, one that even reflects the subtleties of their own hand, as opposed to a second parties interpretation of their visual concept, or simply a manufactured popular image. It is also desirable to provide an "eraser" that allows a tattoo image to be easily removed. It is also desirable to have a low-cost device that would enable a tattoo-wearer to change their tattoo to represent any electronically stored image, such as available through the worldwide web. It is yet a further object to provide the above in such a way as to eliminate the need for especially skilled persons to create/change a tattoo image. It is yet still further object to provide means for a tattoo owner to apply the original tattoo themselves. Yet still further it is desirable to provide greyscale and color images in the above contexts. It is also the object of this patent to provide devices and tattoo inks that will facilitate the above. It is also desirable to have a changeable display for the human body which is optimally thin, flexible and durable. It is also desirable to provide a dynamic image on the skin which can also be used as a computer, video or informational display. In the case of animals, it is desirable to be able to permanently and painlessly mark and remark individuals to aid in their care and treatment. It is also desirable to be able to vary the markings on livestock and captured wild animals to keep track of their dates and places of capture, inoculations, medical history and the like.